


Lessons in Royalty

by migratorycat



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 06:57:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21095306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/migratorycat/pseuds/migratorycat
Summary: Married to Emperor Solus at a young age, the newly crowned Empress of Garlemald is thrust into a world unlike the one she knew before and given the terrifying task of providing the empire with heirs - terrifying because of her youth and her unfamiliarity with her new husband... but he proves not to be like the fearsome, lecherous character she had conjured in her mind from fear. At the end of her path of growth and learning, coming to terms with her duty, will she come to love the man she has been matched with for the rest of her life?





	Lessons in Royalty

**Author's Note:**

> This work will be a series of short chapters dealing with the growth of the Empress of Garlemald and her relationship with her Emperor.

And then they were alone together, emperor and empress, in the emperor’s bedchambers.

She watched in terror as Emperor Solus immediately shed the wedding cloak and suit coat like a spider molting in seconds, ending with a final shudder. He tossed the resplendent garments aside like rags.

“Now that’s over with,” he remarked, striding to his desk and flicking on a light, seemingly heedless of the girl standing in the middle of his room, frozen with fear.  _ She _ was not heedless of  _ him; _ she watched him as prey watches predator. The trappings of her wedding attire were her only protection, yet she wanted them off more than anything in the world, yet she would have given anything for them to stay on as long as she needed to be safe.

_ “You’ll need aid dismantling this outfit,” said the elderly maidservant dressing her for the wedding. “Perhaps you might break the ice by saying so?” _

She swallowed once. Twice.

“I-I will need aid… disrobing… for the night,” she managed.

Solus peered at a missive on his desk, flipping through the pages. “A servant should serve well enough. That’s what they do, after all,  _ serve. _ You may call one here if you wish.”

She swallowed again. She hadn’t prepared for such a response in her wild fretting; she had imagined his fingers skittering down her back and twisting the buttons free, unpeeling the cloth and exposing her skin, touching her with cold hands… she felt ill. “I… I was told…”

Suddenly Solus’s gaze shot up. He whipped around toward her, golden eyes flashing like a wild beast's as all his attention seized her. She took a step back in alarm, nearly bringing her hands up from their feminine fold before her lap.

“Oh,” he said as one sound. His eyes pierced hers, assessing. She could sense thoughts churning behind them, and she feared that he might be deciding her fate. Then he went “Oh!” a second time and he laughed raucously, doubled over. 

The feeling in her stomach worsened. “My lord?”

He came up for air with a tear in his eye, which he wiped away with a finger. She dared not step back as he approached, smiling, and in her fear she could not see the mirth swimming behind the cruel curve of his lips.

“You were under the impression that we were  _ going to bed, _ weren’t you?” he asked, the emphasis making his meaning clear. He put his fists on his hips while he waited for her answer.

Her answer came unbidden; her arms wrapped around herself of their own accord, and tears sprang to her eyes, one falling, as she trembled under his gaze. The smile drained from Solus’s face like the last bit of water from a bath.

“Poor girl,” he muttered, perhaps to himself. “Look at you. You’re shaking. Do you fear me so?”

“I…” Even her throat rattled her words. “My lord…”

The emperor heaved a sigh that startled her. “Firstly,” he said, “do not call me ‘my lord’ any longer. We are married; my name is Solus, and you are entitled to it. Secondly, how old are you?”

It took a moment for her to realize that she had been asked a question, and what it was. “F-fourteen, my lor- Solus.”

Another sigh emerged from him. “A child.” He threw wide his arms. “Look at me. Does it look like I have any interest in taking a child to bed?”

She swallowed, then said honestly, “I don’t know.”

Solus let his arms drop slowly as he weighed her response. “You wouldn’t, would you?” he muttered fairly, his gaze wandering inward.

A moment, and then it snapped back to her, and he raised a finger. “Well let me assure you that I  _ don’t _ have any interest in bedding a child. You should be happy, since you seem so afraid of me.”

“I am not afraid of you,” she rejoined, suddenly courageous, “not entirely, I mean… I’m only… I’ve never…”

“Of course  _ you’ve never; _ you’re the precious young child of a rich noble, kindly donated to the cause of providing the empire with heirs.” Solus stepped nearer to her and leaned down to look her in the face, putting his hands on his knees. “That  _ is _ your task, mind, and you’d best remember it. Eventually I’ll hire a courtesan or something to teach you about women and how to be one and men and how to please one. But for tonight and tomorrow night and many nights until you’re sufficiently grown and educated, you are free from my sexual attentions. Rejoice! And get thee to bed.”

The girl blinked in the aftermath of such an onslaught of statements, not knowing if she should permit herself to feel disarmed by the casual and even faintly whimsical cadence and manner of his speech, or if she should let out the breath she had been holding. Obviously this man was different from the dark and cold creature she had imagined carried the title  _ emperor, _ the stoic figure shrouded in shadow, a cruel statue looming over Garlemald.

But he was not going to violate her tonight. He'd never planned to. Perhaps he didn't plan to in the future. Perhaps he might be kind.

A churning mix of relief, the last pattering drops of adrenaline, and confusingly even the slightest smidge of offense lay in her breast.  _ Get thee to bed,  _ he'd said. She spent a few moments gathering up the scattered pieces of herself again, then nodded once. "I shall."

Solus returned to his desk and pressed a button on the panel lining the right side, succinctly and gruffly calling for an escort to the empress’s chambers and a maid to help her change once there.

“I have chambers?” she said incredulously. 

The emperor regarded her with a withering look. “We are not sleeping in the same bed just yet, my dear.”

The girl thanked every possible god or spirit or sprig of fate that could be listening.


End file.
